Year 7, Day 286: Ruth 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ruth 4 is a great chapter for many reasons.  The most obvious of these reasons is that we get to see the overarching plan of God at work. God has brought this faithful Moabite to His people for a reason.  Through this faithful Moabite and her new faithful husband, God would bring about the Davidic line of kings.  Out of this line, God would eventually bring about Jesus.  God is at work in this story at far deeper levels than caring for a simple Moabite woman.  Don’t get me wrong.  That absolutely is the short-term objective.  But God has more at stake here than just the short-term objective.  That’s cool.

Another reason that this chapter is neat is because of the perspective of Boaz.  He’s willing to redeem. However, he wants to redeem so that he can care for Noami and Ruth.  He’s in it for the redeemer role.  He’s looking to be the embodiment of grace, love, and mercy.  What a tremendous example.

Here’s another neat perspective on this chapter, although by neat I mean interesting, not good.  Look at the conversation prior to Boaz being declared the redeemer.  There is another who as more right to the role.  When he hears about the land, he’s all interested.  Land means wealth and status.  This redeemer will absolutely take the land and the increase in status that it would bring.  However, when the redeemer hears of the link to Ruth and Noami, he loses interest.  He’ll take the land for the increase of his own status, but he’s not interested in the role of redeemer.  How sad it is when our perspective is on the wrong kind of treasure!

Furthermore, the man is certainly lying about his motivations, to make himself look good.  He says that he can’t take on the burden because of the potential implications to the inheritance of his children.  In other words, he doesn’t want to introduce the possibility that children from a different wife might lay claim to the land that his original children will inherit.  While there is logic in this, which is how we know he’s trying to save face, we also know that it is a hollow argument.  After all, with Ruth comes more land!  Any offspring produced to Ruth wouldn’t lay claim onto his current children’s inheritance at all!  These new children would inherit the land that comes with Ruth.  The man is willing to speak a few easily trusted facts to cover up the fact that he’s more interested in the land than the role of kinsman redeemer.  What an honest perspective of humanity we have here.

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